


Todos Los Veranos Del Mundo

by foldingcranes



Series: Sunsettlers [1]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Established Relationship, Hiking, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pre-Canon, Reaper76 Summer Event Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2017-07-14
Packaged: 2018-12-01 10:56:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11484924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foldingcranes/pseuds/foldingcranes
Summary: Jack and Gabriel are given leave after the end of the Omnic Crisis. They go on a hiking trip around the Andes.(In which Gabriel needs to make a choice and Jack is emotionally constipated.)





	Todos Los Veranos Del Mundo

**Author's Note:**

> Title can be translated as "All the summers in the world."
> 
> Many thanks to my friend [Kate](http://archiveofourown.org/users/DryDreams) and the lovely @kerrigore for being my very kind, very patient beta readers! And thanks to the usual suspects for encouraging me to finish this (and to @nikoblasto for dragging me further into R76 hell. May her life be filled with possums.)

"So," Gabriel flops down on the sofa and grins like a loon, resting his feet on Jack's lap. He gets even more delighted at Jack's confused, patient stare and proceeds to grab one of his hands, tracing circles over Jack’s palm with his thumb. It’s meant to be a soothing gesture: it’s been a hectic couple of weeks for everyone and he knows how nervous Jack can get. "Crisis over, we've been working our asses off rebuilding and we’re being given leave for the next month. When was the last time we had a proper vacation, Jackie?"

Jack frowns a little, thinking. Gabriel is aware that he doesn't remember. Still, it's cute that he tries.

"Don't answer that," he waves a hand at Jack and scooches over to him. "Listen, I've got an idea. Let's take a vacation."

Jack slightly raises an eyebrow at him. "I thought your mom wanted us to visit your grandparents in Santo Domingo?"

Gabriel opens his mouth to protest and manages to feel guilty for 0.2 seconds before crossing his arms and pouting like a kid. "She can't guilt me into that."

“Sure,” Jack snorts. “Except we both know she can. Your mom can guilt you into anything.”

"Jackie, forget my mom's expert guilt tripping for a moment and listen to me," he groans, and grabs Jack's cheeks so he can smush them together. "Let's go backpacking."

“Backpacking,” Jack repeats, slowly. “Why?”

“Well, I’ve been looking at a few destinations in South America. We could polish our Spanish.” Gabriel laughs at the skeptical look Jack shoots at him.

“Your Spanish is near perfect, Gabe. It’s me who needs to stop murdering that poor language.” Gabriel rolls his eyes at him, and Jack hits him with a cushion.

“Just…say yes, okay? This could be good. For us.” He steals a kiss from Jack, and runs a hand over Jack’s shoulder with care.

Jack sighs. Smiles a little. “Fine.”

(He’s such a sucker, really.)

 

* * *

[[x](https://www.dropbox.com/s/73pj82su4965ckh/Monta%C3%B1ita.jpg)]

 

Their cabin in Montañita has direct view of the sea, and is shadowed by the lush green vegetation that surrounds the beach. The first morning Gabriel wakes up to the sound of seagulls and the slow echoes of rolling waves. He shakes off sleepiness and gets out of bed, scratching his belly and letting out a pleased sigh.

The heat and humidity made him a sweaty mess, but he can say it's been the best ten hours of sleep he's ever gotten in his life. The military, and years of fighting a war, can irreversibly fuck up one's sleep schedule. Gabriel, being the good insomniac he is, is thankful for any chance to sleep away the entire night.

He could thank the new meds, or pin it on the end of the war, however, something inside of him knows it's the smell of salt in the air and the memory of the rough texture of the sand that makes him think for a moment that he's back he's back home, on the beaches of Los Angeles.

He probably won't mention it to Jack, who insisted on them going back Los Angeles for part of their leave. This being so they could visit Gabriel's family and later fulfill Gabriel's mother's request of going to Santo Domingo for a few days.

It's not that Gabriel doesn't miss them, he's just not so naive as to believe his days as a soldier are done. It's too easy to give in to the sense of security provided by the love of family, to let your guard down, and Gabriel wasn't prepared to do that, not yet.

Another part of him believes he and Jack need some time to themselves. Being alone without battles to wage or weapons to carry, without responsibility.

There's something jarring about Jack's passivity and the way he just shuts down, like he's only going through the motions of living. There's something unsettling in the way that he is so silent, even when waking up from something that would drive anyone else to tears or panic. The way Jack's hands shake and his eyes seem to get lost is so unnerving. In those moments, Jack seems to be a thousand miles away.

They both have nightmares, but Gabriel isn't so sure of how much or how, even, Jack has been dealing with them. The fear of a chasm forming between the two of them now that the war is over (is it?) has made him drag Jack with him on this impromptu trip.

Montañita rests a few miles away from the city of Guayaquil, and buzzes with vitality and constant movement thanks to tourism. It's January; the summer has barely started, and people are surfing out on the Pacific Ocean. Some are tanning on the white sand. During the evening, most will walk around the city searching for a dance club or bar, crawling around Calle de los Cocteles and getting totally smashed.

A mop of blond hair peeks out from under their blanket and Jack cuddles on his shoulder. Outside, the sun shines so bright that anyone could fry an egg on the sand. Gabriel feels Jack's crooked nose smushed against the warm skin of his shoulder and raises a hand to scratch Jack's nape. "I know you're up, Sunshine."

Jack, like a cat, stops clinging to Gabriel for a few seconds so he can do a full body stretch and ends up sitting on the bed, staring at Gabriel with half lidded eyes, still heavy with sleep.

"I feel like someone knocked me out," Jack laughs and Gabriel can't resist the urge to grab him by the arm and make him lie on his chest. "Blessed jetlag, I slept forever."

"You tell me, it's the first time in my life I’ve had a decent night of sleep like a good, normal person." Jack kisses his jaw and Gabriel closes his eyes, enjoying the softness of those lazy, little kisses. He hums a catchy bachata while Jack keeps kissing around his face and his neck. When he pulls away a little, Jack caresses his scalp. There's an expression on his face that seems hard to decipher.

 

"It's been awhile since I've seen you so happy." Jack says.

Gabriel frowns, taking Jack's hand. He stops and looks at it: fingers covered in burns and scars. The consequences of using a heavy pulse rifle are permanently located between thumb and index finger.

"You saw me happy when we ended the last God Program." Jack doesn't respond and just looks out of the window, staring at the peaceful way the water laps at the sand. Like that, still and quiet, Gabriel can remember him covered in blood, with a bleeding nose and an eye swollen shut, a bullet wound on his shoulder.

_Adrenaline shoots through Gabriel's body and Jack's hand keep him still by the shoulders, shaky but firm. There's a wild look in his eyes-- his lips move, but Gabriel can't understand the words until later._

_“It's over, Gabe. It's over.”_

"I don't know if we can call this happiness, love."

Jack leaves the room in silence and, a bit later, Gabriel can hear the shower. He lets his head fall on the pillow and stares at the ceiling for a while.

Maybe he should have gone swimming the moment he woke up.

 

* * *

[[x](https://www.dropbox.com/s/qim9lky54ng0pzv/Colca%20Canyon.jpg)]

 

When he was a kid, Gabriel dreamed of running around the world and getting to explore all kinds of wonders. He spent a lot of time fantasizing from his room in his parent’s home back in Los Angeles. Once, when they were looking at destinations for their family vacation Gabriel read that the Colca Canyon is the deepest in the world, which, as a child, made it ten times cooler. Now, as an adult, he could say his original reaction was more than accurate.

Being there, with his feet on the coppery earth and his sights on the rolling green mountains is just proof of how reality can surpass fiction. The landscape is so magnificent it steals his breath.

Having rested the day before in the city of Arequipa, and equipped with all they ever needed for the masochist art of hiking, they adopted the stubborn mission of doing as many trails as they can without a guide. For Gabriel, it's a matter of feeding his sense of adventure. For Jack, it's about being away from the presence of strangers. He would have felt obligated to make small talk, and, sometimes, people ask him questions about the Crisis, which he has a hard time answering. Jack doesn't like to open up at all, if he can avoid it.

 

There, under Colca's warm sun, bathed in the bright light, Jack is a closed book whose pages have been delicately offered to Gabriel.

Gabriel has an overwhelming feeling that he can't quite name when he thinks about how he is the only one who knows what Jack's thinking. He grabs Jack's hand and squeezes it a little bit. Jack gives him a small smile, and asks a question with his eyes-- _do you want to stop?_ \--letting Gabriel answer with a mere shake of his head. Silent conversations are frequent between the two of them, even if Gabriel tends to chatter and talk to himself a lot. It's always been interesting how they ended up together; Gabriel being of so many words and Jack of so few.

"We've been walking for, mmm... three hours, now?" Gabriel hasn't been timing their walk, so it's just an estimation.

Taking Gabriel's comment as an invitation to take a break, Jack flops down on a rock and cleans the sweat on his brow with the back of his hand. He invites Gabriel to sit next to him with a quick glance to the side and a tip of his chin.

Gabriel sits, his muscles aching all over. "I feel like that last time we walked for so long it was during that mission in France where we had to hide in the sewers." He looks up. Above them, the sky is clear and two condors fly in circles. Jack looks at them in fascination.

"Four hours swimming in shit," Jack snorts. "Maybe that was it. The peak of our careers. Our most glorious moment."

Gabriel cackles. He elbows Jack in the side and settles a hand on his knee. "You looked so heroic evacuating civilians while covered in shit."

"Shit, shit, and more shit. Hey, someone had to do it." Jack goes quiet, a hand rubbing absently over his last bullet wound. The one from the end of the Crisis. There's something about the gesture that makes Gabriel feel like they’re far apart again, something that permeates the silence between them and goes against all the careless laughing from minutes ago.

"I think we strayed from the trail," Jack says after a moment.

Gabriel frowns, getting a map of the circuit from his pocket, and watches as Jack laughs at him and his poor attempts at being a proper hiker.

"If we do get lost for real and they take too long to find us, you should eat me." Jack jokes.

Gabriel rolls his eyes at him. "Oh, there you go again. You think you're so funny, Morrison."

Jack opens a water bottle and drinks, a smirk on his face. "You should start with my buttocks, they're the softest part of my body."

Gabriel stands up, offering Jack a hand. "Jackie, I don't want to offend you, but there isn't a lot of meat back there."

Gabriel trips and chokes on his own spit after laughing too hard when Jack tosses the water bottle at him.

 

* * *

[[x](https://www.dropbox.com/s/9af6d83phhzeeaz/Uyuni%20Salt%20Flats.jpg)]

 

The air is dry and cool in Uyuni and it makes Gabriel's skin feel tight and rough while he drives. Jack steals a kiss from him and makes a face, both of them having extremely chapped lips. The sunlight has burnt Jack, turning his skin a hilarious shade of red, one step away from lobster. Gabriel can already imagine Jack whining at night when the hotel blankets rub against his sunburn.

The drive in their rental has been filled with bumpy and difficult roads. For a second, Gabriel wonders if he should have looked for a tour guide.

Getting up at four in the morning and jumping in a jeep to go down a terrible road is more than worth it as soon as they fix their eyes on the salt flat and get to see the sky reflected in it like a mirror. At his side, Jack lets out an awed sound and holds Gabriel's wrist to catch his attention.

"Come," Jack mutters. Gabriel lets himself be dragged, almost breathless. Around them, there's nothing more than salt and clouds. The blue of Jack's eyes shines brighter than ever and Gabriel smiles, feeling thankful for this trip all over again. He's so overwhelmed he has to close his eyes for a moment and exhale slowly, careful of the lack of air due to the altitude.

"Before retiring, my grandfather was an archaeologist." Gabriel eyes the soil, observing his and Jack's reflection. "He'd let me read his travel diaries when I was a kid, and all I ever wanted was to see places like this one. Now I feel like... things like these are a refuge. Tiny oasis untouched by the war."

Jack nods, solemn. His fingers on Gabriel's wrist tighten, letting him know he's listening.

"This is why we fought, Jack. To preserve the good things that are still standing. To keep the world from falling apart. To keep places like this one."

He watches himself closely. The scars on his face don't match the rest of his skin.

"I don't know what we would be without all the violence." Clouds move, lazy and slow, and Jack hides his face on Gabriel's neck. He doesn't say anything. Not for a long while.

"I don't want to think about this, Gabe."

"Jackie, we're going to have this conversation sooner or later." Gabriel tries to sound patient, but Jack's tendency to run away from his problems in the middle of the uncertainty that envelops them makes everything even more frustrating. He prefers to be upfront about things, and to tackle his problems as soon as possible so he can end whatever is torturing him sooner. There's a political storm coming towards them, and he wants to be prepared.

"We can talk about it later." Jack kisses his neck, and Gabriel feels his breath hitch. He grabs Jack's by the chin and raises his face towards him so he can kiss him. He feels like an idiot, for letting himself go for an obvious distraction. But Jack's body feels warm against his own, and he's ever mindful of the fact that they could have lost each other just weeks ago.

There's no one around. Not yet. They go back to the jeep, walking hand in hand, and park it on a more secluded location. They settle on the backseat and Gabriel hits his head against a window while Jack straddles his laps and presses a trail of kisses on his skin, from neck to navel. A familiar kind of heat gathers low in his belly when the sight of Jack's face between his legs meets him.

With a picture like that, it's easy to let go.

 

* * *

[[x](https://www.dropbox.com/s/gfg0d6dswlbg3rl/Atacama%20Desert.png)]

 

_There's blood in his eyes and the only thing he can see is darkness. There are shapes on the floor._

_Human bodies, Omnic bodies._

_Reinhardt cradles his bloody face and Ana presses her hands on Torbjorn's chest, shouting._

_Jack's shoulder is a mess, a mass of broken muscle, bones and blood. Gabriel's hands are broken and they move on their own--_

Gabriel wakes up startled, with his heart going wild and muscles tense as guitar strings. It feels like his body is trying to crumble from the inside, leaving behind a bunch of bones and skin. He needs to remember how to breathe.

_Inhale._

_Exhale._

_Breathe._

Desert temperatures are low at night, but someone could have warned Gabriel that he was going to need a couple of extra blankets. At five degrees celsius outside of their tent, and shivering in cold sweat from his nightmare, Gabriel needs a moment to calm his pounding heart. The roof of their tent it's transparent, and he can watch the stars and try to give himself some sort of peace of mind. Vaguely, he remembers pamphlets illustrating San Pedro de Atacama as the astronomical capital of the world because of its clean skies and a landscape that strongly resembles the conditions on Mars. If he opens the tent and starts walking towards the desert, he could get lost and pretend to be an astronaut. Get lost enough to never be heard of again, completely disappear--

"Gabe." Jack's sleepy voice brings back to reality. Gabriel lies down again, hugging Jack from behind. He kisses Jack's nape and gets scooches closer so Jack can turn his face around enough to kiss Gabriel's jaw. "Nightmares?"

"Fucking nightmares," Gabriel sighs.

"Do you want to talk about them?" Jack asks, hesitant. Gabriel wonders whether he's afraid of pushing too hard or of not being comforting enough.

"No. Not really," Gabriel hides his face on Jack's hair, breathing the smell of his shampoo. He tightens the embrace. "I feel adrift."

Jack doesn't speak, seeking out one of Gabriel's hands. When he finds it, he laces their fingers together. "I think I'm afraid."

Still hyper aware of everything around them, Gabriel tries not to let his confusion show. "Of what?"

"Of change. Of things changing between us, I guess."

He doesn't feel like he has the authority to comfort Jack about his fears. Never had Gabriel felt so lost, not even when they didn't know if they would survive the war. Not even during the injections and training from SEP.

"If there's something I'm sure of, it’s that nothing is going to change between you and me. It's the only thing I can promise you, Sunshine."

Jack turns around to look at him. His eyes are fixed on Gabriel's and he kisses his knuckles one by one, slowly. As if Gabriel were to vanish at any moment.

"I believe you."

Sometimes, Gabriel doesn't know what to do with so much love.

 

* * *

[[x](https://www.dropbox.com/s/27tjuh5oglagc2b/The%20Hill%20of%20Seven%20Colors.png)]

 

Gabriel knows there's a promotion coming their way. He knows he has two options: taking responsibility of the peace they have helped create or retiring.

Gabriel knows for a fact that he wouldn't know what to do with himself if he had to say goodbye to his career at this point of his life.

Jack wants to retire. He wants a piece of land, a couple of animals, and a house with a dog. Kids, maybe. They haven't discussed this enough.

This is the conversation they have been avoiding like the plague. Given Jack's permanent state of emotional constipation and Gabriel's tendency to run around in circles and doubting everything, it doesn't feel like they could achieve a lot regarding the subject.

And there's something else Gabriel knows very well: Jack would follow him to hell itself.

The colors around them are enough to make him feel grounded. To drag him back to the present. It's been hours on a bus and then walking for a couple of miles to arrive to Cerro de Siete Colores. Jack had insisted on visiting the place so Gabriel could take pretty pictures. He thinks Gabriel has talent for that.

It's hot and the sunset is just around the corner. Jack offers him a water bottle and a sandwich he packed last night, and doesn't take his eyes off him. "You've been quiet today."

Gabriel shrugs. "You don't get to be the quiet one all the time."

At another time, Jack could have laughed at that. Instead, he just seems lost. "I saw you check your e-mail today. You've been contacted by Adawe, right?"

"Jack..." Gabriel sighs. Jack settles over the earth. Seems weary. He could be enjoying at the landscape instead of torturing himself for things that aren't happening yet.

"Have you thought about what I asked you the last time we were at the hospital?"

It's ironic that, at the end of the day, the one wanting to avoid The Talk is Gabriel. "Yeah."

"And?"

"I don't want to retire." Gabriel watches as Jack nods, thoughtful. He doesn't seem surprised or disappointed, and Gabriel wonders seriously if his answer was always going to be that predictable to his partner. "I want to take this challenge. Whatever it costs."

To Gabriel's surprise, Jack smiles a little. "I imagined something like that coming from you."

He stands, and goes closer to Gabriel. "Listen. I'm going with you."

"Jack--"

"No, Gabe, _listen_. I accept your choices, but not for the reasons you're probably thinking of." Jack pauses.

"I know you feel hardened by war. I know you feel lost without the violence, but you're so much more than that." Jack stares at him, eyes bright. "Before you, I was just going through the motions. And then you came and you made me what I am today. You are the one thing giving me hope in the middle of all this senseless chaos."

Gabriel has to look away from a moment, softness shining in Jack's eyes. There's too much love there, and it makes his stomach flutter and flip.

"Hey," Jack doesn't let him have that moment. He presses their foreheads together, his smile shy and his nose brushing against Gabriel's. "Come back to me."

"I'll always come back to you, Jackie."

They kiss, slowly and sweetly, until there's no air between them. Until the sun has set and the warm summer's breeze has enveloped them.

Gabriel smiles, cradles Jack's face and lets him hold him.

There are so many summers to look forward to.

 

**Author's Note:**

> List of places Jack and Gabe visited:
> 
> \- [Montañita, Ecuador.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monta%C3%B1ita)  
> \- [Cañón del Colca, Perú.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colca_Canyon)  
> \- [Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uyuni_Salt_Flat)  
> \- [San Pedro de Atacama, Chile.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atacama_Desert)  
> \- [Cerro de Los Siete Colores, Argentina.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerro_de_los_Siete_Colores)
> 
> This fic has a tumblr post [here](http://countingcranes.tumblr.com/post/162964388612/todos-los-veranos-del-mundo). Check the [Reaper76 Summer Event](https://reaper76summerevent.tumblr.com/) blog for more lovely works!


End file.
